PAKISTAN and India are close neighbours and their relations have been strained since their inception. Both countries have experienced different past scenarios in view of their importance at global level. India has often been privileged over Pakistan, while Pakistan has faced pressure for its location at the heart of South Asia. Behind Indo-Pak deteriorated relations lie India`s hubris to be greatly important at global level. Although Pakistan was much more significant for the US in its war on terror, it was US stonewalling that added to hamstring former`s ability to fully benefit from the alliance.
Setting aside the element of US weight in favour of India, Indian intransigence significantly contributes to pushing the dream to foster symbiosis with Pakistan into oblivion. It can be said with certitude that any tension between Pakistan and India casts a looming threat to regional peace. The last two decades unveil Indian policy swings. Ever since Modi rose to power, the gulf between the two countries has widened. The uncalled-for aggression from the Indian Air Force on Balakot, Pakistan is the latest in the string of aggression reported since Modi`s ascent to power.
The invasion was counterpoised by timely action of Pakistan Air Force, with shooting down two Indian fighter jets and apprehending the pilot of one of the jets. Let us discuss the prospective economic dividends that better Indo-Pak relations may pay. The analysis of recent economic data reads much more about the advantages of symbiotic relations between the two countries. Delhi`s exports to Islamabad rose 72% from a year earlier to $205 million in the fiscal first quarter, led by sugar, organic compounds and pharma.
In comparison, India exported just $513 millions of goods during the previous fiscal year. While Pakistan had suspended all imports from India, it allowed supplies of pharma and drugs after the rage of pandemic abated in 2020. Similarly, imports from Pakistan stood at $17.6 million in the June quarter compared with $340,000 in the year-earlier period and $2 million in the entire FY22.
Pakistan with this much rickety economic situation is in dire need of such symbiotic relations. In the face of evolving global scenario, Indo-Pak relations appear to be out of the abyss of confrontation in the near future. However, the détente will come not less than at the expense of compromise on pinching issues with India. The scalar factor behind this rapport will, indubitably, be the blocs in the making after the Russo-Ukraine war. With Pakistan aiming to extend the scale of cooperation with China, any rapprochement between India and Pakistan will be tantamount to aligning itself with the US Bloc which is imminent to vitiate its once-possessed mightiness.
All the while, the dividends– that better Indo-Pak ties may well pay—are immeasurable and irrefutable in the light of aforesaid data. It now rests with Pakistani policy-makers as to how effectively they come to cope with the gauntlet to preserve their interests in resolving outstanding issues with India. It tests the efficacy of Pakistan’s diplomatic leverage. The discussion above suggests that compromise on pressing issues looms large given the evolving global order and Pakistan’s ramshackle economic condition. However, to be able to forge peaceful relations, it is incumbent upon both nations to crystallize their opinions into the crucible of sensibility.
—The writer is contributing columnist, based in Gujranwala.
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